The what, why and which of giving to charity
If I give money to charity and don't tell anyone about it, does it count? Obviously, but as self-promoting as advertising one's philanthropy might initially appear to be, there is surely something about raising the awareness of others and inspiring them to a) donate themselves, and/or b) spread the word to others.
Do I need to film myself pouring water over myself in order to give money to charity and inspire others? No, but the damn thing's worked hasn't it? The campaign has raised millions (in whichever currency one cares to name) and made internet video stars of many. It's one (somewhat easy) thing to criticise the stupidity (and it IS stupid, Sir Patrick Stewart aside) and seemingly self-serving nature of the enterprise, but entirely another (and, I suspect crucially, much more difficult) to suggest what we should be doing instead. It must be better to have some "fun" and donate the cost of a couple of beers (or one, in London) while encouraging others to do the same, than to grumble about it and/or to stay silent while neither contributing to a good cause nor encouraging others to do so.
There are so many good causes and charities out there, how do I decide which one(s) to give money to? The worst outcome would be to choose none simply because of being unable to decide between the multitude. I struggle going to the canteen sometimes because there are too many options and I find it overwhelming, but it would be terribly sad to apply that same neurosis to charitable giving. As it goes I am yet to find a particular cause close to my heart, although homelessness comes close given it is something I see almost every day (and I feel that's as good a reason as any). I have a friend whose family has trouble with eyesight, who therefore would/does give to charities who help blind people. My Godfather's widow is heavily involved in Demelza House, an Alzheimer's charity, because my Godfather suffered from it. I expect very few of us are more than six degrees of separation from cancer. Two friends of mine have loved ones with MS. This is very much not to say we should not donate for starving kids in Africa because we do not know any starving kids in Africa. Should I give to charity? Yes I should. Should I tell others about it? Actually yes I should, if it means they then do something good. Do I need to justify which charities? Only if I want to.
How much should a person donate? Whatever one can afford. If you can't donate money, donate some time. If you can't donate some time, donate some money. For goodness' sake, do something, anything. Alms-giving is one of the five pillars of Islam, and suggests 2.5% of one's savings. Of course you don't have to be religious to give alms, but the older I get the more and more I like to focus on actions rather the reasons for them.
Why haven't I done the ice-bucket challenge (I've been nominated twice)? Hopefully clearly not because I don't believe in the campaign or the causes. Not because I don't believe in self-promotion (I post tattoo picture diaries and self-indulgent blogs on the internet). Mostly because I'm a misery-guts and didn't want to do it. And I'm camera-shy.
What have I done instead? Not enough. I donated my fiver to MND/ALS and fifteen quid (+giftaid) to Wateraid. I pay my penny on every Domino's pizza order. Recently I paid for three guesses for a friend's time to cycle a certain distance. It cost a fiver a guess, £4 going to charity and £1 going to the prize pot. The prize pot grew to £33 and I won it. The website wisely then gives three options - one to take the whole pot, one to claim some of it and one to give the whole lot to the charity. In the end I went with the third, but I admit I considered the first two for a while. I also try (try being something of the operative word I'm afraid - I'm aware of at least two requests I am yet to respond to) to sponsor everyone I vaguely know when they ask for it. Some people believe that the thing being sponsored needs to be ridiculously hard (like a marathon) in order to justify the expenditure and while I have some sympathy for that view, ultimately I'm paying for cancer research, not for my friends/acquaintences to hurt or embarass themselves.
On that last point, I broadly have that view (i.e. I think that the event leading to a request for sponsorship should be relatively substantial. I think it's more about volume than anything else. If people asked for sponsorship every time they ran 5k or cycled 15 miles then we would be inundated. In that scenario, you may as well pay a fixed amount a month and ignore all requests. It doesn't have to be ridiculously hard, but it should be a challenge for the particular person making the request. The more memorable it is, the more it is going to grab someone's attention and encourage them to sponsor them.
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